(1) Some people didn’t understand why I was saying it’s important, when considering the arguments for bombing Syria and aiding its rebels, to look at a map. Does this video make it clearer? (Again, keep in mind that many Americans–including me!–are awful at geography.)

(2) I am relieved that even when it comes to its plans for world domination, the government is 7 years behind schedule.

11 Responses to “Even More Middle East Map Fun–Animated and With Music”

World domination? They listed 7 countries that were not US allies in the Middle East. The US does not dominate the countries that are allies in that region. Saudi Arabia is not dominated by the US. Israel is not dominated by the US.

Seems like someone in the Pentagon merely listed the 7 countries that were not US allies in that region while discussing how hard it would be to rid the region of regimes which support terrorism against the US. This discussion took place on Sept 20, 2001, shortly after the 911 attacks.

Libya was also taken off the list during the Bush years. In Dec 2003, Libya decided to cooperate with the U.S., the U.K., the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“On May 15, 2006, the US State Department announced its intention to rescind Libya’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in recognition of the fact that Libya had met the statutory requirements for such a move”

Libya was “invaded” under Obama because Qaddafi decided to slaughter his own citizens, not for the reason it was put on the list in 2001.

“Saudi Arabia is not dominated by the US. Israel is not dominated by the US.”
-Very true.
“Libya was “invaded” under Obama because Qaddafi decided to slaughter his own citizens”
-Dubious to the extreme.

Bah, I am sorry Bob,I happen to agree that the whole purpose to having a foreign policy is to get what you want the most of. Your own interests resolved. The Middle East has never been stable, so why not try to tip the scales in our favor? Barring we begin to extract resources at home in sufficient quantities to render the Middle east useless.

If we had money interests in central Africa we would be having this same discussion there.

Now does that mean we should allow the United States to actually move forward on this? Not really. Look we did nothing in Iran, we did something in Libya and we probably will eventually do something in Syria. However I think it foolish to just bomb the crap out of a country, so if we are going to do something, well then do something. If not then stay the heck out of it.

Barring we begin to extract resources at home in sufficient quantities to render the Middle east useless.

That idea is based on the belief that we are entitled to low gas prices and that “buying local” is more economically beneficial than global trade. Both are untrue.

I would like to share these with you:

Time to Lay the 1973 Oil Embargo to Rest
[WWW]http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/time-lay-1973-oil-embargo-rest

Nonsense. It’s time that we exorcised the ghosts of 1973 once and for all. The embargo was a non-event. The production cutbacks were trivial. The wrong lessons were learned. In short, everything we think we know about the events triggered 30 years ago today is wrong.

Let’s start with the embargo. Most people believe that it was directly responsible for long gasoline lines and for service stations running dry. The shortages were, in fact, a byproduct of price controls imposed by President Nixon in August 1971 …

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In the face of increasing world oil prices, “Big Oil” did the only sensible thing: It cut back on imports and stopped selling oil to independent service stations to keep its own franchisees supplied.

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Did the subsequent embargo stoke the crisis further? No — it was an economically meaningless gesture. That’s because the embargo had no effect on imports. Once oil is in a tanker, neither Petroleum Exporting Countries nor OPEC nor Knick-Knack-Paddywack can control where it goes. Oil that was exported to Europe during the embargo was simply resold to the United States or ended up displacing non-OPEC oil that was diverted to the U.S. market. Supply routes were shuffled but import volumes remained steady.

Saudi oil minister Sheik Yamani conceded afterwards that the 1973 embargo “did not imply that we could reduce imports to the United States … the world is really just one market. So the embargo was more symbolic than anything else.”

Trading with foreigners is in BOTH our countries’ interests because it tends to extend the structure of production; We are not made worse off by imported goods, and it would actually hurt them to refuse a paying customer.

High gas prices are generally due to the effects of monetary inflation and regulations rather than OPEC.